Siblings cause depression?

I've long wondered if my 3-year-old daughter would be better-off with a little brother or sister. A recent study, however, says that having siblings can be a double-edged sword. As noted by Brian White on our partner blog, That's Fit, "If you have siblings (either gender), but are not close with them, your chance for developing depressing later in life is greatly enhanced."

The good news is that having a decent relationship with at least one of your siblings seems to have the opposite effect -- as participants in the study who got along with a brother or sister were less likely to be depressed.

Although, researchers aren't entirely sure what the connection means -- or whether a poor sibling relationship is a cause, or effect of depression.

What does seem clear, however, is that childhood relationships are linked to depression later in life.

I'm interested to learn more. My sister and I fought like cats and dogs for almost our entire childhood, but are now friends as adults. Does reconciliation make a difference? Or is my current mental health affected by the spats we had in grade school?

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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)

Um, the point of the study was that one good relationship with a sibling has a marked relationship with a decrease in the incidence of depression. So, siblings prevent depression, as long as they are good relationships!

I don't have a strong relationship with any of my siblings, and I think it counts. Knowing that it's something that is lacking in my life... knowing that other people have built-in best friends in their siblings... and knowing that I don't have that... is depressing.

I imagine it doesn't matter completely for some people. Those people would be the ones who have long since gotten used to the lack of family relationships. They probably don't care.

I think any close sibling relationship has with it the added security that the friendship will last even through normal squabbles (not in my family, but we've never followed the 'blood is thicker than water' thing). That added security probably relieves a lot of stress.

I think it depends on whether or not you *care* about the relationship that you either do or don't have with your sibling. I have an older sibling who I love and have a strong connection too. I have a younger sibling who I have never been close to and basically don't care about at all. The younger one and I have never gotten along, so I've never included her in my life as an adult. Not having a relationship with her doesn't hurt me in the least. If something were to deteriorate in my relationship with my older sister, it would be hard on me and would effect my depression level.

Interesting, the various ways the data were twisted to make it looks like siblings are poison. In no way could anyone draw an inference from it that "siblings cause depression." It only tested people who have siblings, not those who don't. Of those people, those who had good relationships with their sibs had enhanced protection against depression.

The main value of this study, in my opinion, would be to spark an inquiry into (a) why better sibling relationships are associated with better mental health, and (b) how we can better nurture our children's relationships with their siblings.

It should also be noted that the study only focused on males. The results for females might have been very different - indeed, I feel they would be different, because family relationships have a very different meaning for women versus men.

TheTalkies

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